China sticks to strict anti-virus policy as Omicron rages on across world

STRICT MEASURES COVERING WHOLE CHAIN

China has continuously adjusted its COVID-19 prevention and control measures: from the emergency response at the beginning of the outbreak, the exploratory routine containment until August, to the current strategy of eliminating COVID-19 infections in a timely manner.

Alarmed by the loopholes exposed in the last resurgence of local infections, the central government has asked local authorities to strictly remain on guard against imported cases, enhance epidemic response capacity in key areas, limit tourist activities and promote mass vaccination.

More than 1.1 billion people in China had completed their COVID-19 vaccination, and health authorities are promoting their booster program nationwide.

The current strategy features targeted containment measures covering the whole chain of epidemic response.

"We have been thinking, especially during the process of coping with the spread of the Delta variant, how to control the epidemic with more effective measures, lower costs and at faster speeds to minimize its impact on economic and social development and people's lives," Ma said.

The government has also noticed that the epidemic response in some countries, which have not implemented strict epidemic control measures, has not been satisfactory. There have been relapses that severely impacted people's lives, health and the economy and society overall.

"As a result, China has been focusing on improving epidemic prevention and early detection," Ma noted.

"China's practices in fighting COVID-19 show that effectively containing the virus, in a country with a population of more than 1.4 billion, is its biggest contribution to the global fight against the pandemic," he said.

Xu Wenbo, an expert from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said Omicron spreads very fast based on the latest reported epidemiological data in South Africa. However, it could take weeks to figure out the variant's virulence.

The mutation of the Omicron variant will not affect the sensitivity and specificity of China's major nucleic acid testing reagents, according to Xu.

Some Chinese companies have already launched early-stage planning on vaccines targetting Omicron.

Zhang Wenhong said China is accelerating scientific support to cope with new variants while taking advantage of the opportunities won by its current strategy.

"With science and solidarity, we have dealt with Delta well," Zhang said. "We can do the same with Omicron."